001You grab >> she got to my usually watch >> two people sing at the same time. But I just >> actually it's really cool. >> Yeah, it totally is. And she's doing He walked in. >> Whoever text Well, I feel like I think if we can giant sneeze Hey, Rob. Um, I need >> you have a little dish you can put it in or something. I mean, I want to see I want to see some, you know, some spice stuff. All right, we're going to let everyone get inside and then we will start the meeting. Get everyone get settled. I know that we we do need to kind of run through our recognitions a little bit quickly because we have some prom attendees in the audience and we want to make sure that they get
002to their prom on time. All right. Are we ready? All right. The board of education meeting is called to order. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. In Secretary Rristitch's absence, we are going to have member Sonic be our acting secretary this evening. Could you please take roll call? We are missing Vice President Torres, Secretary Rristich, and Trusty McGregor. >> All right, we're going to move on to the approval of the agenda. Unless there are objections, the agenda will be approved as presented. Are we good? >> All right, and next up is our celebration of learning with Assistant Superintendent Wolf. He's making his
003way down to the podium. And >> with my assistant as well. >> Yes. And I believe we're starting off with the Waterford Advanced Achievement Endorsement. Correct. >> That is correct. Good evening everyone. I am very excited for uh the opportunity to acknowledge some wonderful students today. Um after the Waterford Advanced Achievement Endorsement, we'll be honoring students with the seal of biiteracy. Uh but first up is the WAE and this is a program for students who are academically advanced and there are seniors that will be recognizing. This program affords students the opportunity to earn an academic accreditation on their diploma which will be recognized on their transcripts for college admission as an advanced program of study. The Waterford Advanced Achievement Endorsement Program is based on three pillars of scholarship, citizenship, and leadership. And so with scholarship,
004students have to maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.75 or higher. Students must take a minimum of at least two years of a world language, and our students normally go well above that. Students must also take a minimum of two AP or dualenrolled courses. their junior year as well as same thing during their senior year. Uh and many students even begin taking AP classes uh sometimes their freshman and sophomore year even on top of all of that requirement. From the leadership side, students are required to earn a minimum of 40 hours of community service by the end of those four years while in high school. With citizenship, students in this program are expected to behave as role models for their peers and um refrain from having any behavioral infractions or problems at the school.
005And uh if you attended the select 50 that we held earlier this year um or M or Ketarine's senior awards night that we just had um then you're going to be familiar with the students that we're going to recognize uh here in a second. uh but they deserve one more kudos here before they go on their way uh and graduate uh a week from this upcoming Sunday at our commencement ceremony. So without further ado, I've got Miss Klosski from uh Ketaring High School here with me, assistant principal who's going to help pass out certificates uh and Jessica Rristitch uh who's going to help go through some of the slides here. So, um, starting off first, we have Jessica Bishell, Katarina Dvidita, Lucky D. Carl Antonio, Ava Felker, Emerson Fightmaster, Amanda Garcia, Arab Bella Glass, Delaney
006Haw, and I'm going to assume everyone's been looking at the presentation behind me to recognize that these are students from Ketering High School that we are honoring here. First, up next, we have Alexander Heltzer. Ava Holland, Lauren Marcel, Bailey Mlan, Megan Ples, Maya Cybel, Emanuel Oa Garcia. So, Emanuel is is with us here momentarily because unfortunately the the conflict and timing with Mott High School's prom coincided with today's board meeting. Uh but Emanuel is going to be he's going to be hitting both and so uh he's with us for a brief moment uh before he departs. Uh that is why although we don't have the remaining Mott High School students here with us um I did want to acknowledge our other corsairs Christine Copalina Morgan Koskinan Talin Leki and Evan Makowski. So, congratulation to our
007students for all their hard work and effort. These are students who uh best represent all of the things that we put in place here in the Waterford School District and I would say are our most well-rounded and outstanding students. So, one more round of applause for our students. >> If if all of you could come down here for a really quick photograph in front of the board table, that would be amazing. Just be careful coming down the ramp for those of you with heels on. Pull your certificate. All right. One, two, three. Thank you. All right. Congratulations to all of you. And now we're going to move on to our seal of biiteracy. So my name is Jessica Rristitch. I'm currently serving as principal at Bulma Elementary, but I'm still very much connected to the
008English language development program in our district where one of my responsibilities used to be helping to oversee oversee the seal of biiteracy. So, I'm so happy to be back here this evening with some of my colleagues and uh we are so excited to get to recognize some of our amazing students who've earned the seal of biiteracy and um it's just an incredible honor. This award represents a deep commitment to students learning languages. So all of the students that we're going to recognize tonight have demonstrated advanced profic proficiency in not one but two and sometimes more languages. So it's really really exciting and over the years we've been proud to award this distinction across a wide range of languages. So that includes um of course English but also Spanish, Arabic, Haitian Creole, French, German, Albanian, American
009Sign Language, and many, many more. Um so just know that the Waterford School District and our greater community should be really proud of these young people who are leaving us prepared to do great things within our community and outside of our community. Uh this celebration is shared by members of our English language development team like I mentioned. So I am joined tonight by Mrs. Yami Row from Durant, uh Mr. Tony Sanchez from Ketaring and Mrs. Virginia Deleó from M. And as bilingual professional staff, they understand firsthand the value of this gift of being bilingual. and they have worked tirelessly behind the scenes organizing, promoting, and assessing students to help make this recognition tonight possible. So, I'm going to invite Yami up to recognize our students from Durant first. Good evening. Himea Alvarado, Luis Rodriguez, Vidal.
010The next two are not here, but it's Hennessa Gen Hon. and Sarah Diana Yamas Sanchez, Hector Garcia and Iman Nasin. And next we have Tony Sanchez from Ketaring. Unfortunately, our cater students were not able to attend today, but I'm going to still say their name to recognize this great accomplishment from them. So, it's Jonathan Aguilar, Jabi Frias Garcia, Francesca Okando, and finally, Robert Rabson. >> Okay. And last but not least to represent Ma, Mrs. Virginia Deleó. >> Good evening Diego Alvarado, Diana Bman, Emanuel Oa Garcia. The the rest of the students are in here and they are Shahi Alshamali, Alexandra Bautista, Katherine Bernab, Marisol Bernab, Lucia Castillo Martinez, Jaceline Chavez Ordunz, Tatiana Estrada, Felix Flores, Nves, Emily Garcia, Vanessa Garcia, Brian Garcia Ramirez, Yadira Ruby Garcia Yanes, Jasmine Marcia Suniga, Manoa Matias, Felipe Mirez, Jimea
011Partida Alvarez, Kiza Ramirez, Mendoza, and Alexa Ruiz Menz. So, we hope they're having fun at prom. Uh, we wish they were here, but we hope they're having fun at prom. And big congrats to all of you. Yes. Congratulations. All of you that are here, if you could please come down for a picture as well, we would really appreciate it if you want to head down. I know you need to get to prom for those of you that did come before heading off to prom. So, we'll make a really quick photo. And if the teachers would like to come down as well, that would be awesome. All right, parents, you can go ahead and get your shots, too. All right. Again, congratulations to all of you. That's an amazing accomplishment. and have so much fun at
012prom tonight. Thank you so much. All right, we are now going to move on to another amazing recognition, the recognition of achievement with Superintendent Martin for the 2026 Waterford Foundation Teacher of the Year. >> Thank you, President Wagner. Best part of the year is being able to celebrate and we're excited and it is my pleasure to recognize and celebrate our 2026 Waterford Foundation Teacher of the Year, Miss Angelo Reic. You want to give a round of applause? Angela is a second grade teacher at Kudson uh and is an absolute example of educational excellence in Waterford schools, providing not only high expectations and standards within a class, but creating a classroom atmosphere that um it would be the envy and the desire of many of our families. So, Angela, fantastic job. On April 16th, the foundation
013along with Angela's husband who's with her tonight and her parents and sister surprised her and came into her room and celebrated her along with her principal, Mr. Nick Gregory. Um, then we came through a clap out and then they went to uh Long Gamemer Chevrolet as the partner through the uh foundation's teacher of the year. She gets a free vehicle for two years and she was able to select a vehicle there. So, um, we have a special video to highlight that and then I'll meet Angela down at the podium to recognize her with a certificate. Um, but again, uh, congratulations, Angela. >> Well, I'll figure it out. My name is Angela Reddic and I have been teaching at Waterford School District for 16 years here at elementary. So, um, to start that morning, we were
014doing family meeting and one of our students was going over the rules and I wasn't looking at the door and I heard them go, "That's unexpected." And out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the camera coming in and then it all clicked and I saw my mom and I saw my dad and it really did that. Wow, this is happening. And I love teacher. This is a big deal. You know what's going on. >> I am going to tell you, boys and girls, I don't know if you remember there was a huge group of us here maybe I don't know three weeks ago we came to see you learning and whatever and um we got to see Mrs. Reick and six other amazing Waterford school teachers elementary teachers and Mrs. Reick has been
015selected by the Waterford Foundation to be our teacher of the year. So, Mrs. Re doesn't just teach, she builds a family. She helps give everyone a place where they're safe and excited for learning. And she's been doing this for years. So, I think on behalf of hundreds of students and families, Mrs. right is one of the representatives of what I think is the most important profession in the world, teaching. And there's so many good teachers and today she's being honored because she's awesome and you're part of that. Awesome. So, thank you. >> I I thank you. I think Miss Rick is a great teacher because when there's a problem at Lisa, she encourages you to try to solve it by yourself and if you can't, she comes and helps you. She's kind, caring, respectful, and
016she teaches really good. >> She is the best teacher I could ever ask for. She teaches me um money. She teaches me multiplication, minus and plus. She teaches me math. She teaches us um everything we need to know in second grade. Mr. IC you're um the great the greatest teacher ever in the quality world. >> I love teaching for many reasons. Um it's a profession that I can be myself. Um it's a lot of joy, a lot of fun. I try to bring a lot of energy and joy to the classroom. And I feel that when we are all excited, we can learn better. We can have a lot of fun. And the ultimate goal is just try to make learning as enjoyable as possible. And I do that through lots of things, singing, dancing,
017acting. It's just a fun, joyful environment. We support the foundation for the teacher of the year. We've donated $15,000 towards uh the purchase or lease of the new vehicles. We're fully committed to to Waterford and the community and where we live and do business. >> I'd like to take a moment to say thank you so much. Thank you to the Waterford School District, the Waterford Foundation for this wonderful opportunity. I'm so grateful to have won teacher of the year this year and I can't say thank you enough for acknowledging and honoring all the great things that are happening here in our district. And of course, I definitely want to say thank you to Joe Mhammer for that wonderful donation of the brand new Silverado. I can't thank you enough for that gift and that opportunity.
018It means so much to me. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. It's very, very appreciated. All right. So, on behalf of the board of education, the Waterford Foundation, uh I would like to welcome Angela Reic, our 2026 teacher of the year. >> I thought I was tall, but look at that. I'm not as tall. Okay. Well, I'm kind of happy the audience cleared out a bit because I was getting a little nervous talking in front of all these people, but I just want to say thank you. Um, this has been wow, a whirlwind. I joke with the kiddos that this is how it feels to be Taylor Swift. You know, everyone's just ah, Mrs. Ratic, Mrs. Ric. So, it's been wonderful. It's such an honor. I'm so grateful to be able to
019represent teacher of the year, especially in elementary. Um, it's a profession that you can tell I love it. Um, very grateful that this opportunity is around for Waterford. I appreciate how much we acknowledge the wonderful teachers. Um we joke that it was the super seven. So there were seven of us nominated this year and every every teacher in Waterford is just so talented and we do a lot of collaborating together. Um it's been fun the last 16 years to kind of develop myself as an educator here in Waterford and I just am so grateful for this. So thank you all for watching that great video and putting it together and supporting me for this honor. I appreciate it so much. Thank you. Well, we appreciate you very much and it's definitely a well-deserved honor and
020all the super sevens. So, you are exactly why what our district deserves and needs and you are such a wonderful representation of all that's good here. So, thank you a lot. Thank you so much. >> All right, Colle, do you have any other comments? All right. Well, congratulations again. >> Thank you. Thank you again. Oh, you are welcome. We are now going to move on. We will take public comments. We will now take public comments on action items. I don't have any green cards for action items. So, we are going to move on to our consent agenda. Unless there are objections, the consent agenda will be approved as presented. Okay. All right. And now we are going to move on to information items. Proposal for student travel the United Kingdom with Assistant Superintendent Wolf and
021Mrs. Crosnicle. All right. Hello. Um, thank you so much for having me here tonight. Um, I would like to propose a trip for 2028 to the United Kingdom um, for our Ketarine students. So, I am working with World Strides and they have put together a trip that would go to Dublin, Edinburghough, and London. Um, and it would be a 10-day experience for our students where they would get to be fully immersed in not only um really important historical sites, but also cultural experiences. Um, we would get to go to Trinity College. We would get to see the Book of Kels. We would also get to do a Scottish high-step dance class um and fully immerse ourselves in the culture, the food of the area. Um this trip would align with so much that we do
022within the language arts curriculum. And it has been several years since we have had a language artsbased um international experience for students. So it's my goal to try and bring that back and now that we've read about McBth, let's go to Scotland and actually see it, right? and like let's go and see the Globe Theater and really immerse ourselves in these um literary uh cornerstones of of what we do in the classroom. Um this trip is being uh organized through World Strides. So World Strides has been used on a number of international experiences for various programs. There are a lot of reasons to go with World Strides on international travel. Um first and foremost is just their whole team that stands behind you when you travel with them. So they have a tour guide that
023travels with you the entire time as well as on alert they have a you know a safety team, a medical team, anything that you could need, they help to take care of that. Worldstrides also provides um educational experiences while there. So it is not just a fun let's take all the pictures trip. They do leap experiences um which are educationalbased. So students might do a little bit of learning while there and then have to present to their peers or engage in debates about who is the most influential figure. Um there's cooking class opportunities. So it really is a well-rounded educationally based trip. Working with World Strides they have been able to offer a discount to um our particular experience. So through September, they are able to offer an $800 discount to students who would like
024to travel, as well as they have a wide range of scholarships and other um financial supports that are available for families that are interested in this. >> Great. Alex, do we have any questions? >> I want to go. >> Sounds like a good time. That's all. I think it's a neat opportunity every chance they get because I wish they had more opportunities to fully embrace all the cultures, but I guess we open. So maybe >> that's just me. >> Any other questions? How many students total will you be able to take? Like how many students is this opened up to as many that want to come? Um, so this experience would be capped at 36 and it would be an experience that travels over the summer. Um, so in doing some initial uh, you know,
025putting some feelers out there to parents, doing some initial interest meetings, um, parents were one very appreciative of knowing about this so far in advance to provide those opportunities to raise the money. Um, as well as to start thinking about is this the the right experience and the right fit for their student. >> All right, great. Well, thank you so much for bringing that to us. We appreciate it. All right. Thank you. >> You're welcome. All right. We are now going to move on to parent square with Miss Davis. Good evening board. I am Sarah Davis, director of communications and community relations for Waterford School District. Next to me is the wonderful Miss Karen Hildebrand, assistant superintendent of business and operations. and we are here to present tonight about Parent Square, which is a full
026communications platform that we are hoping and we believe will help bring some solidarity and ease with the communication that we are providing districtwide. For many years, Waterford School District did their district-wide communication through Blackboard and for many years that worked well. Um but last year Blackboard was purchased by Final Site and ever since then the service level has not been on par with um with what we need and expect as a district. Um there's been some outages. Their customer service is in a different time zone than ours. And the list just kind of goes on and on that have led to some frustrations over this past year. Um, so we started looking into other um, resources, other ways that we could provide our communication and parent square came up as the clear winner. Um, I
027don't think I need to explain to this group the importance of ensuring that we have ready access to these tools, not only for the obvious emergency, but just to ensure we're providing clear and effective communication on a regular basis to our families. We believe that parent square represents a significant step forward with how we connect with our parents, ensuring that our communication is not only modern but also effective. So I'm going to just play this brief uh video that kind of gives an overview of parent square. Parents are busy and they're getting school information from everywhere. teacher apps, school tents, email newsletters, district calls, backpack flyers. Too many methods, too many places to look. Schools don't know if they're getting through all this clutter and noise. Who is saying what? If family contact information is
028current and who's not being reached. Wouldn't it be better if everything was in one place so you and your families could be sure nothing and no one is missed? It's time to get organized, to get unified. Welcome to Parent Square. Parent Square unifies family communications from the district office to the classroom, all in a single platform. From district-wide alerts to individual parent teacher messages, Parent Square's communications tools are built to work together, not pieced together. Staff have to learn only one system. Parents find everything in one account. It's more than messages. It's also school services that rely on two-way communications like filling out forms, scheduling conferences, excusing absences, and responding to progress reports. All fully integrated so parents can reply by web or app and miss nothing. Administrators also miss nothing. Usage and participation reports
029let them know who's not being reached and help improve communications equity. And they can trust contacts and messages will stay private and secure. Schools also increase engagement and family connections with Parent Square's unique ability to verify and flag updates to contact details. Parents can pick preferred ways of being reached and use any of their phone numbers or email addresses to log in. That gives parents control and schools confidence important messages make it through. With Parent Square, schools get a unified communications platform that saves time. They stay in touch with families easily and consistently. Parents have just one login account to find information and communicate with schools and teachers. They're more satisfied and involved. Parents Square. All of your family interactions in one place. So as the video said, it provides one secure location for all
030district and building level alerts such as newsletters and announcements. It basically simplifies the exper the experience for parents and they can either access it through a web portal or they can download the parent square app whichever they prefer. They are not required to download the app in order to um access their messaging, but they certainly can if they want to. We also know that different families prefer different methods of communication. So, President Wagner might want to receive a text, Trusty Donahghue might want to get an email, and Superintendent Martin might want to check his app and see those notifications. And if we deliver those notifications or those communications in a way that people want to receive them and are able to receive them, our engagement should increase. And then lastly, also not mentioned in the
031video, but something that I find to be really important is the platform has two-way translation capability. So it allows parents to automatically receive all district news in their preferred home language. This ensures we're reaching every family in an inclusive and equitable way. So we have um implemented or we're about to implement a two-year phase in phase one for this upcoming school year 2627. We would utilize parent square strictly for highlevel administrative communication. So principles and the superintendent's office would be using it to send out communication. The goal is that all building level alerts would be sent exclusively through Parent Square starting with the first day of this coming school year. Then in year two, the 2728 school year, we would expand the platform to include classroom level messaging for staff, so teachers to parents. Our
032team has already begun the preliminary work to ensure we're ready to hit the ground running. We have mapped out a data integration plan and a communications timeline which I just talked about and we would begin immediately by starting both a test group and providing training to immediately impacted staff. We are excited for this opportunity and we really believe that parent square is the way to go that this investment will ensure our families stay informed, engaged and connected. I am here to answer any questions about the communication strategy and Miss Holder Brand is here for the financial piece. >> All right, colleague question. >> Member Patricia, >> the again the district. So again, there's a newsletter for all schools. It would show up on here. Uh if it wasn't your school, it's not going to be
033a big busy screen where you're looking for field trip things. I And you aren't going to have to scroll through things. It's going to be just directed towards your students, >> right? So like say you're a parent at Mason Middle School, your feed would be for Mason Middle School. Now there's a tab where you can see district news that is sent out as well. Um so you could if you purposefully want to engage with that content, you can, but you can also customize it so that it's just the news you're interested in. >> You can go to schools. >> Yes. So, u it makes sense just like why we would do that. But what is the cost? >> Great segue. >> That's a wonderful thing. But >> so good evening trustees. We are really pleased
034to have found this product for our families. It was troublesome this last year. And the pricing is actually through a competitive bid pricing through the REMC bid, which you've heard that terminology before. So, we don't have to go out to bid for this. And because we're tapping into this product through Wayne County Rha, we not only get the REMC pricing, which is a 3% discount, because of the volume of students that are covered, it's actually 10% discount. Our initial cost of this for the first year is approximately $34,000. Part of that is an onboard onboarding cost and then the recurring cost is just over $30,000 a year. Obviously that will be subject to change based on any new pricing with any new bids that come out but it's been relatively consistent. Um it integrates seamlessly
035with myar which was one of our selling points. Myar is our student information database and so all the information that we have on our families with phone numbers, contact information, emails etc are stored within that and it should provide a seamless communication for the families for this cost. You might wonder, what are we currently paying for our current system? That's approximately $11,000 a year. So, it is an increase, but the expansion of service and outreach that we should engage with within with this tool is well worth that additional fee. >> So, does it is it capable or will replace? >> No, myar is a student myar is a student information database. It's not intended to replace that. It's intended to coordinate with it so that when there's like >> programs that were still 10,000 here,
03620,000, but it sounds like it's four times better and it's only three times as much. >> Is that a selling point? >> That is a selling point. >> 10% off. That's like $50,000 worth of classroom furniture. What we're getting to 45,000 I have two. Well, and when we had this year when we had outages that went on for a couple of days and we had messages to get out, that's what rose this particular search to the top that that isn't a good place for the district to be in. If we need to communicate with our families, whether it's a transportation issue, a building issue, um there's an emergency, we know that with social media, everything gets out there that, oh, we saw ambulances at this school or we saw a fire truck. We need to
037be able to commun communicate to our families and our stakeholders quickly, seamlessly, and accurately. >> Information is the number one thing. It's something we have to have just we've looked at other programs that are similar to this then to replace what we have. >> Correct. And I know even some of our cabinet members have this in play with their students with their schools. And so there was direct feedback on how that worked for them. So it wasn't just a cursory look. It really was that deep dive looking for the right solution >> and it's fairly easy to use. We get staff to jump on board saying yes I want to do this so I can communicate easier. >> Yes. >> More efficiently. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Any other questions? Member Donahghue.
038>> Not a question, just a statement. >> Okay. >> Um we've used this for two years in the district that I'm at and um it has been a wonderful experience. Uh, Parent Square has been unbelievable with their customer service and um, uh, switching over was relatively easy. Again, Blank County, Mystar, and um, the it really does replace uh, things, you know, first year I, you know, I'm hearing it's just going to be for the high level stuff. Uh but the second year when the teachers are sending out their individual weekly newsletters, uh S'more, um Weebly, all those costs go away um that either individual teachers may be using or the individual building principles may be paying for for their for their staff to do it. And um um it has been wonderful within not only
039can you get for the teachers can do the individual classes, they can do um the whole all of their classes at once but then athletics can develop their athletic teams and um it's sent out for just those teams for that for that particular sport for that particular season. and and um that has worked uh well also especially seasonal uh spring season sports with uh cancellations due to weather and such like that. It's a great way to be able to reach parents immediately saying, "Hey, today's track meet is canled uh due to the web, you know, those types of things." So, fully support it. We absolutely love it. >> Thank you so much for that input. >> Member Patricia, >> why two years? Why don't we just get this all running too much work? I mean,
040it's going to be administration at first and a second year because sounds like a little bit. >> How long were there yesterday? >> Well, we definitely want to do it quickly, but we are approaching the end of the school year and a lot of our building administrators would then be out enjoying some of their downtime. And so, we want to phase this in in a timely and appropriate manner. If we can do that a little bit sooner, we definitely would. >> I mean, to phase it in throughout the year just if it's going to work that much better, why am I, you know, putting the date? Well, we're going to do two years if it's if it's available. >> I'm not opposed to that. As I was writing all of the communications, I thought, why
041aren't we doing this? >> Okay. >> Now, so, but I I think part of it, too, is we the teachers have so much on their plates and new things they're learning all the time, and so we want to make sure that >> it's huge for us. >> It's well that Yeah. that we have the training and everything so that everyone feels supported and everyone can join with it being very very easy. So I think if we feel that there's a push or most people are starting to use it anyway in the second year intention I I say yeah let's move forward with some of that a little bit sooner. I agree. >> Yes. >> Yeah. A lot of the benefits I see are more in that classroom to um to parent communication specifically. >> Most
042important part we have >> that's my opinion of course. >> Yeah. All right. Do we have any other questions? >> All right. Thank you so much. As a parent, I will say I'm excited to move over to this. So, >> thank you. In two well and in two years my last graduate. So, I'm hoping by the last year I get to use some of this. Yeah. >> But thank you. >> We appreciate it. >> You'll see it in the fall for sure. Okay. And in the second year, Rob, it that's when the all the other pieces. Trusty Donnie was talking about s'mores and class dojo. That's when we're going to have the expectation that all of that is over to Parent Square. But certainly teachers will be able to hop into parent square starting this
043fall as well. Okay. It's just um to Davis's point, there's a lot of different pieces. We haven't even at the administrative level or district level started playing with it. So um trying to lightly sprinkle that in. My guess is most teachers will be going to it because they know that it's coming. It'll be at their at their pace a little bit. >> Okay. Will we be getting that as board members also that I mean because again if there's a sporting event that I go to and found out that it's canled I mean just that all the district news people don't always call the correct people is called board members hey what's going on here. >> Yeah. I mean you're part of our data system. You're you have email addresses for the district. So yes I
044would say you should be able to download the app and and see the district news. All right. >> All right. Great. Well, thank you so much. We're going to stay with Miss Davis on the operating millage update. >> Yep. So, I'm here to provide an update on the nonhomestead millage election campaign that we've been running. Um, let me see here. Yep. So, I'm pleased to report that our public campaign launched on schedule the week of April 27th, and the initial community response has been both focused and positive. Since our last update, we did create a web page, which I'm going to pull up here and just kind of walk us through it. Um, you see here on the left hand side, anyone interested in getting a lawn sign can reach out to us and request
045one. Um, we have some important dates on there that people who are interested in voting in the August 4th election might be might want to know about. Clerk's office contact and then general voter information. Again, providing our residents with the information they need to participate on August 4th. Going back up, here's the top of one of our flyers. Um, Superintendent Martin filmed two videos last week or the week before. Those are now completed and we have them both up here. This one just focuses on the non-homestead millage. It's about a minute long. And so we place that right by the non-homestead millage information. If you click on these, these are all down menus. And so it will it provides more information specifically just on the non-homestead. here the ballot language that a voter can expect
046to see when they go to vote on August 4th. Some frequently asked questions related to that millillage. And then here we kind of uh broach the subject or talk a little bit about the Oakland County Enhancement Mill, which residents will note is also on that August 4th ballot. It's separate from our non-h homestead mill, but it will be on the same ballot. And so here we we provide a link to the Oakland County Enhancement Village web page so people can get that direct information from there. We also took a lot of time to come up with this one pager that is housed here on our website, but it also doubles as a flyer that we're handing out to our community. It's a graphic that's up on channel 22. um it will be placed on social
047media and so it's being used in a variety of formats. But you can see here um it's not a comparison but more of anformational piece that lets you know the different aspects of both those millages and a true and false um video that we made. Very fun. and a lot of district employees are involved um talking about the non-h homestead, but we also do talk a little bit about the enhancement mill in there and just kind of separating some facts from fiction in that video. We created a carousel on the front of the web page, which I'll click to here. There's our next uh podcast episode. Be sure to listen. So this is up there right on the front. Again, people can click on that. It takes them to the web page. So all of
048that was put up. Um in addition to those, like I said, we have graphics on channel 22. We deployed our first social media post. We also recorded a millillage commercial and that is playing in that podcast that is up there now. Um, yesterday a district-wide letter from Superintendent Martin explaining both millages was sent to all staff and all community. We had another all staff newsletter that went out today and there is similar messaging in that. We will reiterate that same message in an all community newsletter that goes out uh in early June. We wait until after graduation always to put that up so we can have graduation stuff in there. Adam and I met with our principles and shared a complete millillage toolkit. Let me see if I can get back to that real quick.
049Which includes social media graphics and flyers focused on providing information for both again the non-homestead and the enhancement villages. We encourage the principles to both print them out to put them in their at their front desks as well as send them in their community newsletters. We additionally distributed those sameformational flyers to our district parent council and encouraged them to share with their parent groups. And in addition to meeting with the district pan parent council, we also had a booth at the annual chamber expo that was held two weeks ago. It was the same night as Cal. That's where I was. Um I was at a booth with both of those flyers, able to talk to any community member who had questions about the millages. We also placed an advertisement that went out in the pamphlet
050that was giving to the hundreds of people that attended that event. That is what is down there on the right is very similar to the advertisement that ran in that booklet that those people received. And Adam and I plan to meet with the Rotary and do a chamber perking up event in June. I'm sure we'll add more dates, but those are the the next ones on the docket for us. Soon we will order lawn signs and overpass banners and I will be back before before you in late June to talk about sort of that visual blitz right that's going to happen right after the 4th of July holiday. Any questions? >> Right colleagues questions member Patruchia >> I would like to thank you for including the other village and explaining that there's they're separate because
051we have people that just know across the board usually in this I think explain it very very clearly. There's this one and there's this one however you want to vote but doesn't cost anything. It's just part of it. >> It's >> I like >> Yeah, no problem. It's important that people have all the information. >> Information. >> Yep. >> We can put it on that the new thing that we're going to get. >> Yeah. >> Right. Any other questions or comments? Well, thank you. We always appreciate how thorough you are and I think that that will be amazing and a great tool for us to point people to as well. when they ask us, we can point them right to that website and the comparisons and as member Patricia said, to be able to see
052the two and the difference between the two. I think that's critically important. >> Yep. Yeah. That's what we always encourage. If if you're getting too in the weeds or you're not sure, just point them to the website and that really should have all the information and it links directly to the enhancement mill website as well. So, they can really get all the information they need on there. >> Thank you so much. We appreciate it. >> All right. We're going to move on now with Superintendent Hildabbrand for the athletic trainer RFP. >> That was removed. >> It was It's not removed on mine. Sorry. >> That's okay. All right. So, now we're going to move to Miss Kutchie with the uh elementary classroom Chromebook. It's so funny. It's not on the agenda, but it's on I
053just just for the listening public, it is on mine. So I only I read exactly what I'm handed. >> All right. Welcome, Miss K. >> Thank you for welcoming me this evening. Um, it is the time within our technology that we look at what's working best for onetoone devices in our classroom and what's not. It's kind of that time in the trajectory that we decide are we keep moving forward with the plan we currently have or do we adjust that based on not only principal feedback but also teacher feedback. So we started at the beginning of this year really is having some conversations with principles um as well as doing two different surveys and I had many conversations with teachers. Um, first we started with our K2 teachers to see how they would feel about
054moving to a classroom cart setup in their classroom versus the current setup of onetoone. Um, then based on that feedback, which was overwhelmingly with 80% 80 plus% I think it was 82 identifying that they would really like to go to a classroom Chromebook setup. And we'll go into the why in a second. So then we as a team talked about okay maybe we should survey our third through fifth grade teachers we actually surveyed up to eight but looking in particularly today we're talking about K5 and the same thing over 70% identified they would like to go to this one reason for that is obviously we've heard a lot about this it's the use of technology it's the use of devices what's meaningful what's impactful and how can we move our students forward um we know
055sometimes for our families It is tricky at night, right? Like your son or daughter has baseball or soccer practice and then you're making sure the Chromebook is charged and it might not get plugged in. So when it gets to school, it's uncharged. Well, then it's not usable for the day for even those small activities that they might have in a classroom. And we hear that from parents. We've heard that for a while. Um, so we really looked at what was meaningful and impactful. So, we are looking to move to a classroom cart setup in our K5 building starting next fall. The crux to that is some are really used to those big huge cumbersome carts. So, we really wanted to look at it from a framework of is there a new innovative cart setup that
056is one open and coste effective. So, we um looked at some different manufacturers. We looked through the REMC catalog, what's available, what's not. Had some demos brought in to see what this looks like. And we were thrilled to discover the one that we're bringing forward as information, which is called the Elevate Air. It is a open cart, which means it doesn't have those big doors. So like especially for our K2 kids, they're just going to be able to pull that almost like a library book right off the cart. They don't involve the charging block e either, which is a cost savings to us because every single device needs a charging block. These do not. These charge on a USBC, which is a very small wire that connects to the cart. Um, we obviously will have
057a couple charging blocks in each classroom should they need them for any purpose, but this allows for teachers to make sure every night they're plugged in, they're charged, they're ready to go. The other piece that we know with longevity with Chromebooks, and this sounds I know silly, but when they're charged all night long, that battery lasts longer. So, we also see this as a pretty substantial cost-saving measure because this will allow our especially at our elementary level, our Chromebooks to last another one to two years further than they're currently projected to. and they could last longer than that, but we know one to two is that sweet spot. I've been in conversations with a lot of people across the state. This is a move that a lot of people are looking to make. One for
058a cost perspective, but also for looking at what is meaningful and impactful for our students. So with that, this is just information, but we would be next board meeting coming forward with a recommendation to award a to Bloom. Um, Bloom is the one vendor who is REMY contracted for this manufacturer. That's why there's only the one. REMY like U. Mrs. Hildebrandt shared is the cooperative bid that we work through a lot for the technology pieces. You hear me say that acronym probably more than you like. Um, but we really want to utilize that. We have confirmed with them um with the June timeline, we will have these in place by the time school starts. All right, colleagues, do we have questions or comments regards to the charging carts? In regards to how much it costs?
059>> Yeah. >> So, they're $273,200. I will add they they come in the teal and white Waterford district colors by default, believe it or not. So, it's kind of meant to be. Um, but that is that is actually substantially I don't want to say cheaper, but when you're looking at the bigger carts that are the bulky, they take up a lot of space. Those would cost us close to a half million. So, these are also better and they also come with a better warranty and they're cheaper. I know they're expensive. They're not cheap, but the other thing is is they will stay for a while. So this is not an investment that we will be you will not see me coming back in two to three years to ask for this investment. These will stay
060>> on retirement be >> yeah you say you're going to come back >> well not for this particular item for elementary um the cart itself comes with a lifetime warranty. The charging block itself that hooks up that USBC that I talked about comes with a 2-year warranty and then the charging cords themselves come with a one-year. The cord in the future would be in charge of basically plugging them in >> teachers and students >> which they are now. They plug in their charge their charging block which those cords get all twisted and everything. This would eliminate that factor. >> How many >> 160? >> Yes, it is paid. >> I know it is and it is planned in bond. So we kind of plan that this we planned one of two ways. one we would
061keep the trajectory we were going or one we would switch. So this money was allocated within the tech side of bud on buying this but we have money in >> correct we had we had planned for either which route. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. Member Danghue >> and just to be clear for everyone who's listening in the a and in the audience these are just the carts. They don't include the Chromebooks with it. >> Correct. >> Yeah. But this will help eliminate. So the Chromebooks instead of going home where we know they get more damage, get lost, there's more issues, more need to replace, they'll be staying in district inhouse charging there and not going home with the elementary students anymore. >> Absolutely. >> Which is what will help the charging and not
062going home the longevity piece so we can keep our Chromebooks longer and not have to replace them sooner. >> Absolutely. >> All right. Great. >> Yes. >> Chromebooks also used for homework type things. So that was one of well that was one of the questions we asked in the survey and most allow that as an option but it's not a necessity or requirement. They quickly were like nope we could do this as an alternative and they were like I said over 80% said this is what they wanted to see. >> I like that idea for people. >> Yeah. And it also allows for like I said that um healthy environment at home too where it's not the devices going home. They have to focus on getting it back. Like that adds another element. So we
063would be eliminating that for our families. >> Yep. >> All right. Great. Any other questions? All right. Thank you so much. We appreciate it. All right. Now we're going to move on to summer tax collection fees of Assistant Superintendent Elder Brandt. Good evening again, trustees. We are putting in front of you tonight theformational item for the summer tax collection fees. What this is for is we levy all of our non-homestead and debt taxes with the summer. In order to do this, we pay fees for that. That then brings those proceeds in a little bit quicker, faster. so we can have that operating money as we await for the state aid payment that comes first on October 20th of each fiscal year. So that's the why. One of the changes this year, Waterford Township, we were
064locked into a three they go in a three-year cycle. This what last year this current year was the last year of that three-year cycle. So there was a pricing increase. Obviously, postage has increased, production of the mailing has increased. So, our total cost this year with Waterford Township, the primary is $112,000, but once again, it brings in that proceed for us. So, on our homestead millage, the non-h homestead, I'm sorry. um that brings in that 16 to$17 million with that July levy, which means we get it early on and that helps us with paying our teachers starting up for the fiscal year along those lines. So, um that really is the only change the other districts White Lake um applies a fee to each one of their properties, an administrative fee. That's why there's no
065cost to us for that. They just apply a fee equitably to each one of their property owners and you can see the various fees. So, we'll be seeking action on this at the next meeting and I will engage with any questions you might have. >> All right, colleagues, do we have any questions? >> Member Patricia, are you sure? >> No. >> Okay. There was just a uh a big news story. >> They just had they were complaining about the fees. They went back and forth and I don't know you would know but we've been along with what it's part of doing business. The cost presumably there's about 30,000 lots or something because it's about $30,000 increase. So cost of everything has gone up. It has and the option is is if we didn't do this,
066if we didn't go for that summer tax levy and we split it, we wouldn't have that revenue this quickly, which then we would that would impact our cash flow. So, it's do you pay this in lie of paying like maybe an borrowing expense or some something else. You might remember years ago when we borrowed from the state aid fund for cash flow. By doing this, we avoid that. >> And again, I know we did that for a year, growing 101,000, $250, $300,000 a year. >> Correct. >> But we have since gotten a little bit of a fun balance. We have >> have we looked at >> possibly not going this route of >> so I so I have looked at that the unintended impact as a resident or as a business you're accustomed to getting
067your tax bill and paying that. So the bills come out in July they're due by September 15th. You're accustomed to that. If we didn't do this, then that would be split between that July and December. So, you might think if that bill went down in July, if you weren't in the no to understand that we weren't doing that summer tax collection fee, you're going to get hit with a bigger bill in December. And so, that's the unintended consequence. I worry about the risk of that to all of our residents and businesses. They >> pay tax. and we don't want them to know that we know, oh, it's only this much. >> They know what they're paying, but let's say that a home sells, someone new buys it. They get that July bill, they look at
068all past history and they think, oh, this is my only bill, and then all of a sudden they get that December levy and it's more. You might say, "Well, Karen, if we levy it in July, what are we going to do with this non-h homestead?" We're able to levy that differential once it's approved in August. We can do that on the December bill. and that would go to the businesses, but it wouldn't have an impact on our primary residents >> information. It's all good. It's just don't rock the boat. >> Well, and if if we get to the point where it's upside down and it's not value added or if we get to the point where we have the reserves, we don't need to do this. Then we need to work on a communication plan
069to keep everyone informed to avoid the unintended consequence. >> You you look at it as >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. All right. Any other comments or questions? Thank you so much. And we are going to stay with Superintendent Hillbrandt to go over the Loot's fire alarm. >> And I'm going to invite Carla Reves from Barton Melo to come down and join me. So trustees, you know that we have a long-term lease with new gateways with our Loots property and the fire alarm system is antiquated. It is unable to be repaired or fixed. It is not functioning at all. We must replace this fire alarm for the safety of our tenant. It is a responsibility under our lease to maintain the mechanicals that is covered under those mechanicals. And you have in your package a
070list of information as to why, and I'll go through this a little bit with our community. Um, it is the original fire alarm that's in that building. It's from the 1960s and the panel is outdated. We have to do this. Our lease >> work. >> Understood. Um, our lease goes until 2035. And so we know that we must do this. We diligently put bids out. We sought to have it be the most costeffective but secured means for our tenants. and the customers that they serve us. We have um provided you with the submitted bid quotes. We will be recommending for action to go with the Great Lakes Power and Lighting, which is the lowest bid that was received. We will be going for that 123,000 plus that 10% contingency as we always put in for
071the what we don't know, we don't know. and we'll be bringing that for action at the next meeting. Are there any specific questions we might answer? >> Do we have any questions in regards to the fire alarm system over member Dhill? >> I was just taking on and on the bid tabulations sheet here. Um these are the ones that the companies that did bid for it. >> Correct. I'm really surprised IQ didn't I mean they're right down on Scott Lake Road. They're literally down from M and um I mean that just surprises me that a hometown company didn't there. Okay. All right. Um and I I was kind of going through the FAQs on this and this is something we have to do. >> Yes. this the system current the current system is working but
072it just we can't add on to it. Wh why why are we where are we at with this and help me understand this why we need to replace where we're currently at. Just I need clarity on this. >> Do you want to take that girl? >> So what I'll say is when a device goes down or has gone down it cannot be if it gets replaced it will not function properly. It won't connect to the panel as it is right now. >> Smoke alarm or fire alarm in in the ceiling someplace in the building. >> Mhm. >> Needs to be replaced. The new ones won't connect back to the panel. >> That that one that we replace will not connect to the panel. So, it won't function basically. >> Okay. Understood. All right. Thank you.
073>> Any other questions? Member Patricia, >> we've just Have we replaced all of these firearms in the other buildings? Are we in the process of that? I know we were doing the alarms and lights and all the other things that we >> we >> several of them have. I believe every building has a new functioning. The alarms that are being tested right now. Ketarine is brand new. >> That's brand new. >> And the alarms that are currently being tested are related to our um operational protocols for the state police for do we need to go to lockdown or you know those different codes. last year I believe it was we were changing all the firearms to update them because they didn't wouldn't connect they didn't have >> it's a it's a similar problem problem in
074the other buildings all the elementaryaries connect >> yeah Rob unfortunately we can't do that >> but no all of our instructional buildings I know the elementaryaries were all done I believe that was the bond before last um you might recall all at the committee of the whole meeting. I believe it was two meetings ago when I did where we were at with all the bonded projects and what we had completed. The fire alarms were included in that and we had completed all those. Some of those were with the 2016 bond. Some of um the components may have been purchased with some of the er funds and now we're finishing up now. But loots we we have to address. We >> talked about it again two months ago, five years. I'm not real sure the timeline
075so I don't remember. Uh We use this green lakes home already on any projects. >> They have been part of the 20 they did do some work in 2016 bond at Ketarine and they've worked in several school districts. They've been in business over 20 years. So they we got Bart Melo has worked with them. >> And is this the basic system but I know some we put in the other schools we have lights for emergencies and the different colors. >> Is that what's going here? or is it a basic? >> I think it's a basic I believe it to be a basic fire alarm. It's not that safety protocol that we're doing within all of our instructional buildings. It truly is the functioning fire alarm so that the population and the customers within our building
076can safely be removed from the building if there is an event. And I apologize. I was trying to find it and you may have said this and that was a lot of information. Is it part of Are we using bond dollars? Yes. >> That's what I wanted to clarify. So this will be part of the 2020 bond dollars. Correct. For us to to cover the cost of it. All right. Do we have any other questions or comments? >> All right. Thank you so much. And now we are going to stay again with assistant superintendent Hilda Brandt to go over the international academy budget. So in front of you tonight you have the annual information on the IAKMA budget. The IAOKMA campus is for the international balora program. We have approximately 30 students that participate at
077that campus. We according to our cooperative agreement pay 110% of our foundation allowance for our kiddos to participate within this program and they annually have to provide us with their budget. They've provided it. They are reducing to positions with this upcoming budget which will bring their fund balance just under 5%. They operate a bit differently as a cooperative program than what we do. They don't have the overhead costs. They don't need to carry a 15% or a 10% fund balance, but they do need to have some fund balance reserves to associate and operate with cash flow. It is a cooperative program involving 11 to 12 different school districts with kiddos coming in staff from those 11 or 12 different districts as employed. We currently don't have any Waterford school district staff there. A few years
078ago, we did, but not currently. And they have proposed their budget. So, we are providing this tonight as information to you and then we'll be coming at the next full board meeting for the action item for approval. All right, colleagues, we have any comments or questions in regarding the international academy budget? member Donghan, >> do you know how many students we have this year? >> It we're currently we have um let me find us. We have 30 students and they're planning 30 again for this upcoming year. >> Okay. And then and we're paying 110% of our TE report. >> Why is that? Why why why the extra 10%? >> That was just the original agreement. I can't speak to when this was drafted back in the late 90s, early 2000s. as to that thought process.
079I know um it's looking at that full cost structure. There were times and I can speak just from my tenor at Bloomfield Hills because that is the financial um >> you set this up. >> I did not set it up. I was not there in the '90s. >> That's the extra. Yeah. Okay. But what has happened is it was originally built and structured to handle a population of 600 kiddos and the population has declined just like every other district. And so for many years it went actually below the foundation allowance. But since the population um there were times when I was at Bloomfield that count got as high as like 647 kiddos and the blended deposit so to speak for tuition was running at like 89% 92%. So it's not always been this way but
080over the last I want to say eight years it's been capped off at that 10%. It cannot go greater than the 10%. And then the fiscal agent has to work to say how might we contain the cost, which is part of the reason for the reduction of two full-time equivalents this upcoming year. They're doing it through attrition. I don't know what positions they are, but that's how they balanced it out. If you look at the operating results for the current year, um they were operating at a deficit and they're turning that around to try to restore that 5% fund balance. And do we um do we have to supply teachers for that? >> We don't have to. The the model was created because of all the different districts having different salary scales. It was created
081to try to manage that blend as well as a blend of different support within the instructional staff. And so you might have um four or five teachers from Rochester, you know, four or five teachers from Bloomfield, three or four from Birmingham, a couple from Aendale. And it provided a different perspective as well as that blend of that salary scale. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> All right. Do you have any other comments or questions? You said this would be coming on as an action item >> at the next full board meeting >> at next in June. Okay. All right. Are we good? We're going to move on. We are moving over to our acting secretary with new business. The member senate superintendence recommendation 15-25-26 notice of public hearing proposed 2026 2027 budget. It is
082recommended that the board of education approve the newspaper notice notice of public hearing on proposed 2026 2027 budget. I so move >> support. >> All right. The motion has been moved and supported. Are there any comments or questions regarding this? All right. All those in favor, please signify by raising your hand. Motion carries 4. We're going to move over to Treasure Donahghue for the recommendation regarding the Oakland Schools fiscal year 27 budget. >> Superintendent's recommendation 51-25-26, Oakland Schools 2026-2027 general fund budget. It is recommended that the board of education approve the resolution in disapproval of the 2026-2027 proposed Oakland schools general fund budget. I so move support. >> All right. The motion has been moved and supported. Are there any comments or questions? >> So we would like to say historically this board has voted
083in disapproval of the open schools budget. We've always had concerns in regards to the support that our district receives for our center-based programs and our special education, which is one of the main reasons why we have felt that this was our way of letting Oakland schools know that we were in disapproval. We also are looking forward to having conversations with both um the open schools board and their superintendent because we'd like to get to a place where we can understand, we feel heard, we feel supported, and we can come to understanding in regards to the centerbased programs. So, we just wanted to make sure that we are definitely looking forward to having those conversations so that going forward we might be able to approve the budget next year. All right. All those in favor, please
084signify by raising your hand. Motion carries 4 Z. >> All right, we are going to save as Secretary Sunrant. >> Superintendent's recommendation 52-25-26, administrative appointment. It is recommended that the board of education approve the following administrative appointment. Nicole Faudy, assistant principal from interim location Mason Middle School, effective date July 27th, 2026. I move support. >> All right, the motion has been moved and supported. Are there any comments or questions or do we want to wait till we take the vote for our comments and questions? All right. All those in favor, please signify by raising your hand. Motion carries 40. All right. Now, are there any comments or questions? >> Member Donnu. >> Nicole, congratulations. So, w officially welcome in as a full full-on administrator. So proud and happy to have you on board. Thank you.
085>> Yes, we are definitely excited to have you on officially instead of interim. So, congratulations. We're looking forward to seeing you more here and hearing about all of your experiences over at Mason. And I and I know that that community has welcomed you with open arms and I'm excited for you and for our kids. Anyone else? All right. Thank you so much. And now we are going to move on to public comment on non-action items. I do not have any green cards. Just making sure no one wanted to move their way up to the podium. All right, great. Now we're going to move on to our board of education reports. Are there any board reports? Member Donny Hill. >> I just wanted to say I had the opportunity to go to the uh Michigan Association
086School Board Spring Institute um on a Friday and Saturday and uh took five different classes and um uh to get my financial certification uh so I know what better what Karen's talking about than uh um but no, it was a it was a really interesting weekend. pump spending with other board members from around the state and uh in addition to everything that we learned, you know, financially about audits and and things along those lines. Um just having the conversations with other school board members from other districts to see um what they're going through, what they're doing, and so it was very nice to uh um so it was very nice to be a part of that. So I thanks for the opportunity. >> Well, awesome. Um, I think we forgot to ask >> Nicole to
087come to the podium. So, we're going to back it up. >> And we are going to give her a chance to to speak at the My apologies. That's >> running through our meeting. Okay. >> Um, sorry, I did write everything down because I want to make sure I didn't forget anything. Plus, it is spring in the middle school, so it's a lot going on. So, um, I just want to sincerely thank all of you for the confidence and trust you placed in me, uh, by appointing me as the assistant principal at Mesa Middle School. Um, it's been an honor to serve in the interim role uh over the past couple of months and I'm really grateful for the opportunity to continue to support our students uh staff and families in this position. Um, I want
088to make sure that I thank all the staff and families that have welcomed me and worked alongside me as well as I'm excited to continue that strong relationship that I've built with the staff and the students and the families. Um, as I step into this role officially, I just really look forward to continuing to listen and learn. um and just lead with the integrity and the consistency and the commitment that I have so far. Um my compassion and my goal is just to continue to support the academic excellence as well as a social emotional learning and growth of every child. Um I want to help the staff to continue to feel empowered and supported in all of their work. So just thank you again for this opportunity and I'm just excited for what lies ahead
089um as I continue to serve, you know, the students and staff at Mason. So, thank you. >> Well, again, we're very excited to have you officially with us, and I I know that you are going to do amazing things. All right. Do we have any other board of education reports? I know it's crazy. It's the end of the school year, so there's so many fun things. And I don't want to steal any of Superintendent Martin's thunder, so I will let him acknowledge all of the amazing things that are happening in his report. Are >> you positive you don't want? >> I am positive. I am positive. >> Uh so earlier this week, Monday was my last superintendent advisory council. That's 35 students or so from Karina M. Um I want to give a big shout
090out to Ashley Gray and um Jen Diki um from our state team. I probably butchered her last name, but they helped. They helped a lot. Um, I told the kids on Monday, it's been my favorite thing. Um, spending time with them, hearing from them, elevating their voice. U, they appreciated the lunches that weren't school lunches, but just want to tell them, um, thank you so much and I appreciate all of them. Looking forward to maybe having some a few of them, uh, with us next year. And for the graduates, uh, congratulations. Uh, speaking of last days and and finishing things, May 27th, next Wednesday is last day for our high school seniors, uh, Duran will have their fourth quarter uh, graduation ceremonies and then at Ketaringham Mott, they will do their around 10:00 a.m. um,
091their final clapouts and rope walks and all those other things. So, looking forward to celebrating with them. And then following that, um, Mr. Wolf talked about May 31st is our commencement exercises at the O Arena. uh looking forward to celebrating with Ketaring at 10, Durant at 1, and Ma at three. Um congratulations to all the graduates, and really congratulations to the parents and all the educators who have had a role in the students getting here. Um it is a 13-year journey. Um and while students are celebrated, there's a lot of other people who also should have a lot of pride for the work that they've done. Um also, uh Trusty Donahghue talked about spring sports. I don't want to forget those. We have a lot of athletes that are closing out their season. Um, and
092weather really makes that spring season a hustle to get to the end. I know we have teams and districts. We have kids that have qualified for states. Uh, so just want to say congratulations for all of our student athletes and for those that are still competing. Um, we wish you the best and we know that you represent Waterford. Well, um, I don't know how many wakeups there are still left. I I haven't started counting, but June 5th is the last day. I know kids and uh teachers especially and maybe some others in here are inside uh clapping their hands and and know that date. Um and happy Memorial Day to everyone. Right. So, while we're out there uh celebrating and enjoying time with families, hopefully um spending some time um pondering about why we're celebrating
093Memorial Day. um those who have gone on before us um and dedicated their lives, given their lives to ensure that we have liberty and the freedoms that uh we often take for granted. So, uh happy Memorial Day to everybody. And then last thing, uh public public comment last meeting, we had um some individuals talk about our libraries not being open. I just want to clarify all of our libraries are open. Um, our elementary libraries, uh, are, you know, they've been open with a model for the last 10 years or so. Most of them three days, some of them two days. Our secondary buildings, kids are able to come in and check out. Um, and we do have technicians stepping in and shelving things. So, uh, we want to make sure kids are reading and our
094libraries are open for business, um, whenever they need it. So, thank you. >> All right. Well, everyone, seeing no further business, this meeting is adjourned. Thank you everyone. Have a great weekend. Be safe if you're traveling.